There are few things bigger than Texas, but the SXSW sometimes feels like it can’t be contained by the state. Year by year, the festival seems to get bigger and bigger, and 2016 is no exception. Today organizers have unveiled their Midnight lineup and more, and as always, there’s plenty to pay attention to.

Perhaps the most interesting addition is the new film from “Evil Dead” remake director Fede Alvarez, which will be making its World Premiere. It’s still untitled, but it has a promising premise, centering on a group of teens who break into a blind man’s home thinking they’ll get away with the perfect crime only to find out they’re wholly mistaken. Due in cinemas later this year, this should be a very hot ticket. So too will be the J.J. Abrams produced remaster of Don Coscarelli‘s cult fave “Phantasm.”

The year is 1978. A team of wannabe crooks botch a small-town bank heist and flee with their hostage deep into the California desert, where they find themselves in a harrowing fight for survival against a psychotic ex-military sniper. Cast: Ashley Bell, Pat Healy, Alan Ruck, Darby Stanchfield, Larry Fessenden, Graham Skipper, James Landry Hebert, Michael Villar

After his father is killed in a car crash, Jack travels home to Colorado to help nurse his mother (who was injured in the crash) back to health. There, he uncovers long buried secrets and lies within his family, his friends and his very identity. Cast: Rory Culkin, Lin Shaye, Daveigh Chase, Natasha Lyonne, Louis Hunter, Nikki Reed, Britt Robertson (World Premiere)

When a young man is executed for committing murder, he leaves behind a curse letter in which he promises to take vengeance on all those connected to his trial. Cast: Sean Patrick Flanery, Erin Cummings, Devin Bonne, Mike Doyle (World Premiere)

My Father Die

Director/Screenwriter: Sean Brosnan

A young deaf boy avenges the death of his brother, and the killer happens to be his father. Cast: Joe Anderson, Gary Stretch, Candance Smith, Kevin Gage, John Schneider, Gabe White, Ross Britz, Michael Francis Murphy, William Mark McCullough, Frances Reagan James (World Premiere)

Pet

Director: Carles Torrens, Screenwriter: Jeremy Slater

A lonely man fatefully reunites with a former high school classmate. When she spurns his advances, he takes her prisoner, only to find that she is not what she seems. Cast: Dominic Monaghan, Ksenia Solo, Jennette McCurdy, Nathan Parsons, John Ross Bowie, Da’Vone McDonald, Janet Song (World Premiere)

PHANTASM: Remastered

Director/Screenwriter: Don Coscarelli

Filmmaker J.J. Abrams and his company Bad Robot have undertaken a meticulous 4K restoration of writer/director Don Coscarelli’s beloved horror fan favorite about a young boy confronting the embodiment of death in the form of the sinister “Tall Man.” Cast: Michael Baldwin, Bill Thornbury, Angus Scrimm, Reggie Bannister, Kathy Lester

Under the Shadow (Jordan, Qatar, UK)

Director/Screenwriter: Babak Anvari

As a mother and daughter struggle to cope with the terrors of the post-revolution, war torn Tehran of the 80s, a mysterious evil begins to haunt their home… Cast: Narges Rashidi, Avin Manshadi, Bobby Naderi, Arash Marandi, Ray Haratian, Hamid Djavdan, Nabil Koni

Exposing her role behind the camera, Johnson reaches into the vast trove of footage she has shot over decades around the world. What emerges is a visually bold memoir and a revelatory interrogation of the power of the camera.

Six men on a fishing trip on a luxury yacht decide to play a game to compete. Things will be compared. Things will be measured. Songs will be butchered, blood will be tested. Friends will become rivals and rivals will become hungry. Cast: Yorgos Kentros, Panos Koronis, Vangelis Mourikis, Makis Papadimitriou, Yorgos Pirpassopoulos, Sakis Rouvas

Free In Deed

Director/Screenwriter: Jake Mahaffy

Free in Deed depicts one man’s attempts to perform a miracle when a single mother brings her young boy to church for healing. Cast: David Harewood, Edwina Findley, RaJay Chandler, Kathy Smith

Gleason

Director: Clay Tweel, Screenwriters: Seth Gordon, Clay Tweel At the age of 34, Steve Gleason was handed a death sentence. When doctors diagnosed him with ALS, they gave the former NFL defensive back and New Orleans hero two to five years to live. So that is what Steve chose to do — LIVE.

The Greasy Strangler

Director: Jim Hosking, Screenwriters: Jim Hosking, Toby Harvard

Ronnie runs a Disco walking tour with his son, Brayden. When a sexy woman takes the tour, it begins a competition between father and son for her love. It also signals the arrival of an oily strangler who stalks the streets at night. Cast: Michael St Michaels, Elizabeth De Razzo, Sky Elobar, Joe Walters, Gil Gex, Abdoulaye NGom, Sam Dissanayake, Holland MacFallister

Hunt For The Wilderpeople (New Zealand)

Director/Screenwriter: Taika Waititi

Ricky (Julian Dennison) is a defiant city kid who finds himself on the run with his cantankerous foster uncle (Sam Neill) in the wild New Zealand bush, in this hilarious and heartfelt adventure from director Taika Waititi (What We Do In The Shadows). Cast: Julian Dennison, Sam Neill, Rima Te Wiata, Rachel House, Oscar Kightley, Rhys Darby, Stan Walker, Cohen Holloway, Mike Minogue, Troy Kingi

Morris from America

Director/Screenwriter: Chad Hartigan

Morris From America is an endearing, heartfelt coming-of-age comedy about Morris, a 13-year-old African-American boy who has just moved to Heidelberg, Germany with his caring but troubled single father. Cast: Markees Christmas, Craig Robinson, Carla Juri

Newtown

Director: Kim A. Snyder

Newtown documents the aftermath of the deadliest mass shooting of schoolchildren in American history. A cast of characters within Newtown and beyond interconnect to weave an intimate story of trauma, grief and community resilience.

Operation Avalanche

Director: Matt Johnson, Screenwriters: Matt Johnson, Josh Boles

In 1967, four undercover CIA agents were sent to NASA posing as a documentary film crew. What they discovered led to one of the biggest conspiracies in American history. Cast: Matt Johnson, Owen Williams, Josh Boles, Ray James

Presenting Princess Shaw (Israel)

Director: Ido Haar

Presenting Princess Shaw is the true story of the incredible Princess Shaw and the enigmatic composer Kutiman, who discovers her from the other side of the world.

Richard Linklater — Dream Is Destiny

Directors: Louis Black, Karen Bernstein

Richard Linklater — dream is destiny is a feature-length documentary on the filmmaker Richard Linklater and an unusual look at a fiercely independent film style that emerged from Austin, Texas in the 1990s.

A boy growing up in Dublin during the 1980s escapes his strained family life by starting a band and moving to London. Cast: Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Lucy Boynton, Jack Reynor, Aidan Gillen, Mark McKenna, Maria Doyle Kennedy

Trapped

Director: Dawn Porter, Screenwriters: Dawn Porter, Sari Gilman

Trapped follows the clinic workers, women, and lawyers on the frontlines of the battle as they fight to keep abortion safe and legal across the US for millions of poor and uninsured women caught in a political quagmire.

ADDITIONAL FEATURES

24 BEATS PER SECOND

Showcasing the sounds, culture and influence of music & musicians, with an emphasis on documentary. (Open to Music badgeholders)

Robert Klein Can’t Stop Shaking His Leg

Director: Robert Klein

A hilarious and heartfelt look at the career and influence of comedy legend Robert Klein. (World Premiere)

Dali and her 8-year-old son Pepe take a vacation with Dali’s boyfriend, Chavez. Instead of bringing them closer, their beach holiday brings out things in each of them that threaten to pull this emerging family apart. Cast: Anajosé Aldrete, Tenoch Huerta, Esteban Ávila (U.S. Premiere)

VISIONS

Visions filmmakers are audacious, risk-taking artists in the new cinema landscape who demonstrate raw innovation and creativity in documentary and narrative filmmaking.

Boone

Director: Christopher LaMarca

A unique sensory and unsentimental peek beneath the veil of the Utopian dream of farming. Stripped of interviews with farmers or agricultural experts, a sense of time and place serve as a meditation on the gritty reality of three young goat farmers. (World Premiere)

SHORT FILM SCREENING SECTIONS

NARRATIVE SHORTS

A selection of original, well-crafted films that take advantage of the short form and exemplify distinctive and genuine storytelling.

Barry

Director/Screenwriter: Jay Rondot

A homespun cocaine dealer takes to social media to expand his operation, but things don’t go as planned. (World Premiere)

Markus is in an institution for young sex offenders. His only friend inside is the unpredictable and violent Tobias. (North American Premiere)

Crooked 180 (Netherlands)

Director/Screenwriter: Kevin Boitelle

A young skateboarders summer with endless possibilities and an approaching ending. (World Premiere)

Dastaar

Director/Screenwriter: Javian Ashton Le

Harpreet and Emily drive to New York days after 9/11 (World Premiere)

Ernestine & Kit (UK)

Director: Simon Bird, Screenwriters: Simon Bird, Kevin Barry

A darkly comic fairy-tale about two elderly women who travel the countryside of rural Ireland, imagining the terrible, immoral lives people are living today. Their one consolation is the innocence of children… (World Premiere)

The First Men

Director/Screenwriter: Benjamin Kegan, Story by: Stacey Richter

An overextended teacher bumps into a troubled student while at the mall with her mom. (World Premiere)

Greener Grass

Director: Paul Briganti, Screenwriters: Jocelyn DeBoer, Dawn Luebbe

In this dark comedy of manners set in a surreal world, meticulously-coiffed soccer moms Jill and Lisa vie for perfect children, perfect husbands, and most importantly, perfect teeth. (North American Premiere)

Her Friend Adam (Canada)

Director/Screenwriter: Ben Petrie

A boyfriend’s jealous impulse spirals out of control in 16 minutes of romantic doom.

Het Geluk (Belgium)

Director/Screenwriter: Jan Van Dyck

One evening, 38-year-old Frank returns to his quiet residential house where his family has organized a surprise birthday party. (North American Premiere)

Hip Hip Hooray

Director: Lizzy Sanford, Screenwriters: Lizzy Sanford, Anna Cordell

Harry breaks up with his girlfriend on his 30th birthday, moments before discovering she has thrown him a surprise birthday party.

A story that brings to life the struggle of grannies in South Africa through the game of soccer. (World Premiere)

Another Kind of Girl (Jordan)

Director/Screenwriter: Khaldiya Jibawi

17-year-old Khaldiya meditates on how the refugee camp has opened up new horizons and given her a sense of courage that she lacked in Syria.

Bacon & God’s Wrath (Canada)

Director: Sol Friedman

A 90-year-old Jewish woman reflects on her life’s experiences as she prepares to try bacon for the first time.

The Black Belt

Director: Margaret Brown

In September 2015, Alabama closed 31 DMVs, which largely impacted voters in Alabama’s Black Belt. To combat these closures, the Secretary of State issued a Mobile Voter Registration unit, which traveled to every county to issue voter IDs. (World Premiere)

Dollhouse

Director: Terri Timely

An aesthetically lavish portrait of a “reborn” artist who strives for maximum verisimilitude in her creation of newborn baby dolls. (World Premiere)

Like

Director: Garrett Bradley

At the intersection of internet popularity and economic gain a booming industry grows in Bangladesh based on Likes. (World Premiere)

No one on the planet has drawn more than Laurie Lipton. Armed with only a pencil, her haunting images seek answers to the most uncomfortable themes in our culture. But what compels her to live a life of isolation drawing is neither black nor white. (World Premiere)

Miss Me: The Artful Vandal

Director: Mohammad Gorjestani

Renowned Montreal street artist, “Miss Me”, gives us an unprecedented inside view into her life and her quest for self-liberation and authenticity, as she uses her art to take aim at the objectification of women in advertising. (World Premiere)

Phil’s Camino

Directors: Annie O’Neil, Jessica Lewis

Due to treatments for his stage 4 cancer, Phil can only dream of walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain. He does the next best thing: he builds a Camino behind his house and along the way he learns his true pilgrimage is the one he travels within. (World Premiere)

The Provider

Directors: Leah Galant, Maya Cueva

Restrictive laws, such as HB2 in Texas, threaten abortion providers and force clinics to shut down or hire out-of-state practitioners. Some abortion doctors, such as Dr. Shannon Carr, travel hundreds of miles to provide legal and safe abortions.

These C*cksucking Tears

Director: Dan Taberski

The gritty, fearless voice behind the world’s first and only gay-themed country music album, 40 years after its release. (World Premiere)

Deer Flower is a stop motion and 3D printed film following elementary student, Dujung and his parents. Dujung drinks rare food and suffers side effects.

Edmond (UK)

Director/Screenwriter: Nina Gantz

A funny and dark story of a man with cannibalistic urges who travels back through his life, looking for the root of his unhappiness.

Geist (Ireland)

Directors: Alex Sherwood, Ben Harper, Sean Mullen

A shipwrecked fisherman is led to a dark secret within this short thriller. (World Premiere)

Glove

Directors: Alexa Lim Haas, Bernardo Britto

The true story of a glove that has been floating forever in space since 1968.

Heila Ormur

Director/Screenwriter: Rose Stark

A man, infected, runs for his life.

LOVE (Hungary)

Director/Screenwriter: Réka Bucsi

LOVE is a short film describing affection in 3 different chapters, through an impact on a distant solar system. (U.S. Premiere)

Pombo Loves You (UK)

Director: Steve Warne, Screenwriters: Josh Blaaberg, Steve Warne

A distant father is forced to confront a heroic but troubled past life as the 1980’s TV show character Pombo.

Shiny

Directors: Daniel Cloud Campos, Spencer Susser

A damsel in distress gets undressed when a man from the Midwest puts to rest a world that’s obsessed with “the priceless,” also known as “the shiny.”

Snowfall (Ireland)

Director: Conor Whelan

A story of fleeting love at a house party.

Things used to be hidden (Germany)

Director/Screenwriter: Tara Mercedes Wood

Things used to be hidden is a mockumentary about the aftermath of a disaster which caused everyone to loose their perception filters. Various characters tell us how they feel about their new lives. Is knowing it all really what we want? (North American Premiere)

Trash Cat

Director/Screenwriter: Kelsey Goldych

A cat that likes to knock over trashcans. (World Premiere)

Vocabulary 1

Director: Becky James

An oblivious Snake and his neighbor, Butterfly, come to life on a vocabulary worksheet. (World Premiere)

MIDNIGHT SHORTS

Bite-sized bits for all of your sex, gore, and hilarity cravings.

An Arms Length (UK)

Director/Screenwriter: Max Weiland

God couldn’t be everywhere, so he created mothers.

Battlefield Casualties (UK)

Director: Price James, Screenwriters: Darren Cullen, Price James

Battlefield Casualties is a Veterans For Peace UK Film challenging the British Army’s policy of recruiting 16-year-olds into the most dangerous army jobs.

Don’t Tell Mom (Japan)

Director: Sawako Kabuki

A nocturnal education film, designed to help children develop their emotions and expressions as well as language and physical skills by enjoying singing and exercising with a big brother.

Eat My Shit (Spain)

Director/Screenwriter: Eduardo Casanova

Samantha has an anus instead of a mouth. Everyone picks on her but she just wants to be normal.

Dallas, Texas, 1980: A gossip columnist hunts down Dallas’s new First Lady to unearth the truths underneath her legendary mink coat.

Minor Setback

Director/Screenwriter: Augustine Frizzell

Two teen girls scheme their way out of work to spend a day at the beach. Things don’t go as planned. (World Premiere)

The Send-Off

Directors: Ivete Lucas, Patrick Bresnan

Emboldened by a giant block party on the evening of their high school prom, a group of students enters the night with the hope of transcending their rural town and the industrial landscape that surrounds them.

Documentary photographer, Robert Shults, went from being a homeless dreamer to a home-owning artist after taking photos of the brightest light source in the known universe, a laser in basement of the physics department at UT. (World Premiere)

Locked inside the mind and memory of Dr. Mtangulizi Sanyika, he reflects what it means to be part of the displaced New Orleans population in Houston.

TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL SHORTS

A preview of the next filmmaking generation, as Texas High Schoolers present shorts of 5 minutes or less.

Always With You

Director/Screenwriter: Jonathan Schuette

Emotionally struggling to prepare for a funeral, a teenage boy receives crucial encouragement from his father.

The Ambition Song

Director: Ian Chapoy

An animated interpretation of “The Ambition Song.”

The Archer Hadley Story

Directors: Ben Root, Alex Treviño

The Archer Hadley Story follows Archer Hadley, a senior student who has cerebral palsy as he hosts the Wheelchair Challenge fundraiser in hopes of buying his school automatic doors.

Art

Directors: August Grau, Devan Prabhakar

Two artists of different style interpret the same landscape.

Badi’ Al Zaman

Director/Screenwriter: Arhum Khan

Badi’ Al Zaman is a story about a musician’s experiences that go into constructing his art, and with all the content, he can’t help but think you never really feel him, because you don’t hear his words, you probably watch them.

Coffee

Director/Screenwriter: Zoe Allen

You might think you are enjoying your coffee, but what if someone is enjoying you?

Dejection

Directors/Screenwriters: Francisco Alvarez, Linda Robledo

A young man contemplates suicide while drinking heavily, never leaving his room, due to his survivor’s guilt over a previous incident that inadvertently killed his loved one.

New for 2016, enjoy three nights of free film screenings under the stars in the heart of Downtown Austin, Texas!

Where: Long Center Terrace (South 1st and Riverside)

When: Saturday, March 12 + Sunday, March 13 + Monday, March 14

How: Open to the public with free SXSW Guest Pass. Available at guestpass.sxsw.com

Saturday, March 12 / Rock Out With Your Doc Out

Darkon: 10th Anniversary screening

Directors/Screenwriters: Luke Meyer, Andrew Neel

10th Anniversary screening of the cult-hit documentary Darkon about American LARPers. The film covers an epic war raging through the fantasy realm of Darkon, investigating our complex relationship with fantasy and reality.

with Heavy Metal Parking Lot: 30th Anniversary Screening

Directors: John Heyn, Jeff Krulik

Hailed as one of the greatest rock films ever, this short documentary follows the tailgating antics of metal fans in a parking lot before a Judas Priest concert in 1986. This year marks the 30th anniversary of a pre-internet viral video cult classic.

Sunday, March 13 / The Best Little Outdoor Screening in Texas!

Smokey and the Bandit with an intro by The Bandit himself, Mr. Burt Reynolds

The Bandit is hired on to run a tractor trailer full of beer over county lines in hot pursuit by a pesky sheriff. Cast: Burt Reynolds, Sally Fields, Jerry Reed, Paul Williams, Jackie Gleason

Monday, March 14 / Family Night Under The Stars!

Cartoon Network presents: The Powerpuff Girls

Directors: Nick Jennings, Bob Boyle

Before the broadcast debut of the newly re-imagined series this Spring, Cartoon Network will take over the Long Center in Austin and host a fun-filled event under the stars to celebrate the premiere of The Powerpuff Girls! Be among the first in the world to see episodes from the new series, along with fun, food, and surprises. (World Premiere)